Gearbox president hints at using Shift codes in future games

Gearbox president Randy Pitchford says the team has big ideas for "more options, more functionality" in utilizing Borderlands 2's "Shift" system in future games.

Borderlands 2 has enjoyed a certain level of sustained success, thanks to its steady stream of downloadable content and varied classes. One element new to the series that has kept fans coming back, though, has been the Shift codes. Initially a fairly rare novelty, Gearbox has been keeping players engaged with social events handing out the codes like candy. Gearbox president Randy Pitchford sees this as a system they can get use out of in other games and franchises.

"It's kind of like letting you into an insiders club," Pitchford told IGN. "What's interesting about SHiFT is we built this infrastructure because we wanted to be able to tighten the relationship between the gamer playing the game, the game itself on that system, and us. There's a lot of manifestations of that. We needed an infrastructure to do that.

"We created this platform because we intended to use it," he continued. "It's likely that this platform will be useful to any game that we do where there's some value in having the ability to connect between the customer playing the game and us, having that relationship." He says future iterations of the platform could build upon it with "more options, more functionality," based on this framework.

Steve Watts

Editor-In-Chief

Steve Watts' youthful memories are are a blur of pixels, princesses, castles, and Mega Busters. After writing about games as a pastime for years, he got his first shot at a paid gig at 1UP. He's freelanced for several sites since then, and found a friendly home at Shacknews. His editorial duties include news, reviews, features, and lunatic ravings. He lives in the Baltimore-Washington area with his shockingly understanding wife.